Damn Fine AD+UX
Purveyor of Damn Fine Art Direction & User Experiences, et al.
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“Yakuza Baby, Tattoo Boy, Punk Girl“ for Playtex Binky pacifiers.
Creative Director: Chee Guan Yue. Art Director: Ning Li.
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Disclosure - White Noise ft. AlunaGeorgeProduction duo Disclosure, have teamed up with, AlunaGeorge, for a brilliant single titled “White Noise.”...
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Download, listen and enjoy this free awesome mini promo sampler featuring new Sun Glitters track featuring Alvin and Lyle for the GRAND DUCHY...
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Smelling sweet for 400 years…
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Inked up another Dia book tonight…I hope the new owner likes Devil’d eggs ;) ...
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I am ready for the show season to start! These little guys will be fun to paint!
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http://grandduchygrooves.bandcamp.com/album/sampler-01-remixes
And here some more free and awesome stuff regarding the Grand Duchy Grooves... -
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WHEN ITS BIKE TO WORK DAY AND YOU SPOT AN OPEN SIGNPOLE
Project 3 Update
I haven’t had a chance to do much else than return props last week, and make my selects. This week will consist of editing photos, printing and working on the cover. I’m hoping to come and get some help with sewing signatures, this time around!
Here are a couple of photo spread WIPs:
“To be a man would be serene, Drinkin beer til I get mean, chewin’ tobacco, kissin girls that life’s a dream.”
“It’s good to be a man these days, don’t have no conscience about my evil ways.”
The vaudeville vignette shoot is a wrap! Image 1 is a quick test shot from earlier today - they all came out pretty stellar. We started setting up around 12, and started shooting around 4. We just wrapped at 10:30. Really looking forward to making my selects and jumping into the editing process.
I’ve settled on not doing the execution with the can, and instead will be creating more of a traditional large-format coffee table book, case bound, cloth cover, painted or screen printed with the title. I’ve attached a few reference images I’ve been gathering of cover looks I like. (Images 2-5)
Will also be placing caption bumpers between each of the shots, something like images 6 - 10.
I’m not 100% sure what kind of paper I’d like to print on just yet - I’m considering a slightly translucent parchment that I can weather a bit to look older.
That’s all for now, folks! Today was fun.
Experimental Book: Project 3
So I’m still pretty stoked about the possibility of this book - the fact that this concept is still strong regardless of the execution tells me I’m doing just fine.
I’m still searching for someone with a wood shop who can create a wooden, hollowed-out can. Regardless, if I don’t, I will bind this idea in a hard back and it will still be a great coffee table book.
I have the shoot scheduled for Sunday April 14 - the model and photographer have both confirmed. Until then, the question will be collecting the props etc.
Things are coming along, I’m just waiting for execution to fall in line with plans. Further updates forthcoming.
(e)
Experimental Book, Project 3: Life on Mars
ASSIGNMENT:
Create a book with the title “Life on Mars”
My idea is to create a novelty book you might pick up at Urban Outfitters. The concept is a nod to the book “Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus”, whose central metaphor has become a part of pop culture. The concept is also inspired by Elle King’s song “Good to Be A Man”, a scorned woman’s humorous take on how great it must feel to be a cheating, lying man, with no conscience or consideration for anyone else’s feelings.
The execution takes its cues from both the song lyrics (“drinkin’ beer ‘til I get mean…”), which gave me the idea to package the book inside a beer can, and from the song’s instrumentation, which features the banjo and made me imagine stills from a 20s vaudeville act (see, Vaudeville Banjo).
THE BOOK:
The book is a novelty coffee-table photography book.
The book will come packaged in a beer can with a custom label reflecting the title. Inside will be a Rollerblind Mechanism, with the book spooled around a dowel or tube. The reader pulls the book out from a slit in the can, right-to-left, to view a progression of vaudeville stills that tell the story of a woman imagining “Life on Mars” - what it’s like to be a man.
PROGRESS:
I’ve ordered the faux beer can and rollerblind so I can begin experimenting with the rollerblind mechanism. I also ordered sample theater gels, on which I’m considering overlaying the photos.
I’ve contacted a friend of mine who is a photographer, and another friend has volunteered to model for me, and I plan to Art Direct a photo shoot in the next 1-2 weeks. I’ve created a shotlist, and begun compiling a list of props and wardrobe for the shoot.
Plans about plans. Also, I decided to add line drawings at the last minute instead of having solely type executions. It’s funner this way. A lot more work, but I hope it makes the piece better. I’m still not 100% either way, but gotta do it and see. You know how it goes.
Sneak peek at the next book in the works. “I Hope - A Letter to A Future Woman In Tech” by @bitchwhocodes
Experimental Book Project #2: Speech As Book
The Assignment:
Choose a speech and re-interpret it as a book.
I chose Stacey Mulcahy’s (@bitchwhocodes) open letter to her neice, Future Woman In Tech, as the speech I will focus on for this project because it echoes the sentiment of myself and so many other women who are acutely aware that gender equality is still very much an issue in the workplace, especially within male-dominated professions, and are faced daily with the effects and repercussions of inequality.
The Book Design:
Ultimately, the strategy I’ve taken is to create a book that can be used as a tool for people who are passionate about achieving gender equality - for anyone, male or female, who can envision a gender-neutral workplace. This book has potential to play the role of consciousness-raiser, and will be a physical extension of Stacey’s idea that will raise awareness about the issue and increase visibility. Fold out posters and t-shirt as “dust jacket” are a few tactics I’m using to support the strategy.
To that end, continuity is key and I am doing my best to make sure there is visual consistency and continuity between her creation and mine in several ways:
- Keeping the color scheme consistent
- Keeping the type consistent. I contacted the typographer, Joshua Dardenof Darden Studio in Brooklyn, NY to request permission to use it for this project (he agreed and sent it to me)
- Pulling out the key phrase, “I hope,” used throughout the speech, and making it the anchoring idea for the execution
The book will have a total of 10 fold-out posters. Originally I intended for them to be 18 x 24, but that presented printing issues, and I found that the design actually worked better as 12 x 48 posters - both in concept and execution. 12 x 48 will echo the design and layout of the blog, contributing to the consistency and continuity of this printed extension of the speech.
It took them a while to get back to me, but once I received the font Jubilat from Darden Studio, about a week ago, I had to re-typeset all of the posters, and visually, the 18 x 24 wasn’t working for me. When I changed the sizing, and subsequently, the typesetting to a 12 x 48 format, the design came together much more nicely.
To Dos:
Tomorrow, I’ll send the posters out to be printed on a large format inkjet printer on a heavy matte paper I selected at Miller Blueprint. Because of the size, and the fact that the large format printers only use roll paper, I have to go with one of their stock papers. I’ll also start painting the t-shirt today (too many colors to be screenprinted, or I would have done that) - though I plan to test a t-shirt transfer as well. Friday, on my day off, I’ll be assembling the book via screwpost binding.
Can’t wait to see it come together!
But Wait, There’s More:
I plan to get in touch with Stacey to gage her interest, but this could turn out to be a promising way to raise funds to support Girls in Tech, an organization that “focuses on the collaboration, promotion, growth and success of women in the technology sector.” What an awesome potential opportunity this project has presented!
Update:
Well that was quick. Stacey tweeted at me and says she’s in!
In other news, apparently tumblr doesnt like custom HTML formatting and it’s making me lose my mind a little bit. /CUSSWORDS
It’s Springtime, which means 2 things in ATX: blue bonnets & SxSW. Welcome to Texas, Sx friends (Please don’t move here 😐) – View on Path.
Experimental Book design - The God Delusion, typeset in reverse white on black, hand sewn signatures and bound in a re-purposed leather bible cover. at Joann Cole Mitte Building – View on Path.
EXPERIMENTAL BOOK PROJECT 1 Update 3
The Atheist Bible: The Book of Dawkins - The God Delusion
Just wanted to post an update about my progress and process thus far.
The direction I decided to take with this project, is to attempt to reformat and re-package The God Delusion in a biblical presentation.
I’m doing this because Dawkins’ book TGD operates along the spectrum of fundamentalism in stark opposition to Christianity, and there are many parallels to be drawn between TGD and the Christian bible. For example:
- TGD is a source of peace of mind and lends support to non-believers, while the Christian bible is a source of peace of mind and lends support to believers
- TGD seeks to convert believers, the Christian bible seeks to convert non-believers
- TGD canonizes Darwin, while the Christian bible canonizes Jesus
The process has been labor-intensive.
- Chopped off the spine from a copy of TGD
- Scanned the pages and converted them to OCR text format
- Spent hours in TextWrangler deleting erroneous line breaks, doing some basic formatting, and adding “verse numbers” to each paragraph.
- Set up my InDesign templates, character styles, & paragraph styles
- Placed each chapter individually, updating reference headers as I went along
Next Steps:
- Set up signatures for printing
- Find some good vellum for printing and good paper for the inside covers
- Print, cut to size & fold
- Separate the leather cover from the Bible
- Bind The God Delusion with the Bible’s cover
For my presentation, I will need:
- A Lectern
- A Robe
- Candles
Ideally, if I had more time and resources, I would bind together several other atheist books in order to push the Biblical theme a bit further. Some examples include Daniel Dennett’s book Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon, Darwin’s Origin of the Species, of course, Sam Harris’ Letter to a Christian Nation, and Christopher Hitchens’ book God Is Not Great, among others.
I’m planning to use my Atheist bible, The Book of Dawkins, during a sermon I will be delivering on The New Ten Commandments to a congregation of The First Church of Atheism, of which I became an ordained minister in 2010.
Experimental Book Design Project 1: Update #2
I’ve spent the better part of my week re-reading The God Delusion. I should finish this exercise by tomorrow.
Some thoughts:
For a few reasons, I’ve been wavering on the idea of using transparency overlays to highlight the hostile language, or re-write it so that it’s more palatable, or give the author admonition from the self help book How to Win Friends and Influence People:
- Upon further review, doing that feels a little too expected. It’s interesting, but is it a cliché approach? So I decided to re-read the book to see if it inspires me to go in a different direction.
- I think the author would balk at the treatment. Dawkins was very deliberate with his title, tone, and word usage. I think he intended to strike a nerve in people of faith, even if that masked intention and outcome contradict his stated purpose: To advocate an alternative view, and to convert people to atheism.
In light of my second reading of the book, I think that Dawkins’ stated “purpose” was merely paying lip service to his critics, with the intention of pre-emptively deflecting criticism about the way in which he ruthlessly lambasts people of faith, and his flagrant disinterest in actually helping them come to an appreciation - or at least understanding - of atheism. In deed, the book comes off as an atheist credo, and a self aggrandizing one at that, and I am leaning toward repackaging the book as such.
What form might this repackaging take? Perhaps something along the lines of a revered atheist tome, not unlike the biblical canon. Scanning the book into editable text form, reformatting it to add “verses” to each chapter so it may be more easily referenced, reprinting on delicate vellum, binding it along with Darwin’s Origin of the Species, covering it in leather embossed proudly with Dawkins’ title. Do I present it on an altar surrounded with candles? Or take a more modern skew, presenting it on a pulpit with a projector nearby showing Dawkins’ tweets and facebook updates? I’m not sure yet.
One thing I do know - the metaphor is not that the author thinks of himself as the Christ figure of atheism, nor that he deserves to be revered in such a way - but a nod to his intention of conversion, raising consciousness of atheism, reverence for Darwin (the “Christ-figure” of modern science), and the resulting credo.
One might argue the goal of the Christian Bible is twofold: to support believers, and convert nonbelievers. Is it ironic that Dawkins says his goal is to support atheists and convert believers? This juxtaposition is intriguing. I certainly think it would operate as a nod to Dawkins unintentionally(?) operating along the spectrum of fundamentalism with his reverence for the Darwinian evolution process. Like Christianity, Darwinian biological evolution has significant holes in its explanation of the origin of life. Each ideology depends on extraordinary leaps of faith.
I find it interesting about your opinion on The God Delusion. I've read Dawkins' work, and I remember the premise of the book was speaking against fundamentalism and dogmatism, not for it. Also, what parts in the book came off as narcissistic and sarcastic? I'm geniunely curious to know what chapters gave you that impression.
josueplaza
This book is described in many contexts as advocating staunch “fundamentalist atheism” - which is interesting when juxtaposed with exactly the thing he speaks out against, “fundamentalist religious belief”. Fundamentalism, on either end of the spectrum, is dangerous because there is no desire for tolerance or achieving a common understanding - it’s an “I’m right, you’re wrong” mentality.
I say narcissism because the language he uses is so bombastic, and such a turnoff to the audience he’s trying to reach, that it really only serves to wax ecstatic about his own point of view. (Calling your christian audience’s god a “monster” - p68 - might be accurate, but calling names is a terrible way to try and get a point across). This is true of the over all tone of the book, these kinds of attacks happen time and again throughout the book.
Sarcastic, again, in light of the over all tone - though patronizing might be a better word actually. He more or less calls religion a virus (p216), likens followers to moths drawn to flames, uses words like self-deception, wishful thinking… Again, I don’t disagree with any of it - but his approach is just awful. I think there could be a more engaging way to get a point across, than pointing fingers and calling names.
It’s literally been 6 years since I first read the book, and I’m currently going back and doing a more thorough reading to refresh my mind on the topic.
The thing I think he’s successful at is giving atheists a voice, and articulates arguments supporting many peoples’ thoughts and feelings - but alienates himself further via becoming the very thing he speaks out against.
Richard Dawkins stated that his purpose in writing The God Delusion was “To advocate an alternative view” to “the God Hypothesis”. The purpose of advocacy is to promote an idea with the intent of causing positive social change in response to that idea.
Regardless of being in agreement with Dawkins’ core argument, many readers including myself have found that the book comes across as fundamentalist, dogmatic, sarcastic, narcissistic and takes an vitriolic, arrogant, dismissive tone when it comes to people with differing opinions - traits, characteristics, and tactics which are hardly successful in any kind of advocacy campaign.
In the preface of the paper-back edition, which was released some two years after the hard back had been in print, Mr. Dawkins set out to address these criticisms. His answers were disheartening, at best. At worst, the tone reinforced the initial offensive interpretation of the book.
Humorously, I wondered if Mr. Dawkins had read How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie. I think Mr. Dawkins has many valid points, most of which I am in wholehearted agreement, however I am cognizant that his method is not winning many friends, nor influencing many people. When considered in this light, the book fails to accomplish Dawkin’s stated goal of advocating the alternative view, because the tone is such that his intended audience, and the choir to which he preaches, is repulsed by his approach.
My goal with this project, is to present the book in a different format that is a stronger interpretation of how the author might have more successfully accomplished that goal.
Introducing today’s juice “The Little Tart” - it’s sweet, succulent, citrusy, with just enough kiwi to keep it nice n slutty. Drinking it is like a punch in the tongue!
1 clementine
1 Meyer Lemon
1/2 grapefruit
1/2 mango
3 small kiwi
1/2 cup water
